Hailey has become an instant fan-favorite in The First Descendant, so if you are looking for the best build?? for her to melt (but technically freeze) bosses, we have you covered. Her kit revolves around ranged play and accuracy, so we’ll break down everything you need.

Best Hailey build in The First Descendant

To start, let’s put a mod setup to start focusing on her strengths. This will focus mostly? on her Singu??lar damage. Here’s the setup to get started:

Best Hailey mod setup

• Increased HP
• Spear and Shield
• Front Lines
• Emergency Measures
• Skill Insight
• Skill Concentration
• Shot Focus
• Chill Specialist
• Glacial Syncytium
• Strong Mentality or Frugal Mindset

This build for Hailey implies that the mods you’re using are maxed or almost at max rank to have t?he greatest effect. Even if they don’t because of resource restrictions like not having an Energy Activator or enough Crystallization Catalysts, use this as a general blueprint for maximum output.

With this setup, we’re massively increasing the damage output of Hailey’s class-specific sniper with crit and frost damage. At this time, there are no Transcendent mods for her to further increase her power, but thi?s will do.

The mo??d setup isn’t all. What we need to do next is boost her power with a Reactor.

Best Reactor for Hailey 

The best Reactor for Hailey is the Frozen Singularity. It’ll boost Chill Skill and Singular Skill Powers by 20%, which will only mak??e her sniper that much stronger. Keep an eye out for where these specifically drop as they rotate.

As for what kind of attribut?es these should have, look fo??r the following stats and combine two:

• Skill Critical Hit Rate
• Skill Critical Hit Damage
• Chill Skill Power Boost Ratio
• Singular Skill Power Boost Ratio
• Skill Cost

Ideally, you also want these stats to be yellow or purple, meaning th??ey will have a greater effect. 

The weapon of choice will depend on what weapon you use. Reactors will get the extra Skill Power when your on-hand weapon matches the type. For her, you’d want one with a sniper rifle and another like an assault r??ifle or SMG for g??eneral mobbing.

Best weapon for Hailey

Hailey is a sniper character, so as such, you want to be using a sniper with high crit to fully maximize her potential. You should either use the Piercing Light or Afterglow Sword and build those with crit and weak point damage in mind. Her final? ability, Zenith, borrows the damage mods from your on-hand weapon and transfers the stats to it. 

There are some restrictions, ?so because of that, you need a decently-built sniper to go with this build. Here’s a mod setup to get that going:

• Rifling Reinforcement
• Better Insight
• Better Concentration
• Concentration Priority
• Action and Reaction
• Weak Point Sight
• Focus Fire
• Consume Magazines
• Maximize Weight Balance
• Weak Point Expansion or Snowflake Conductor

This build does imply that you can consistently hit the weak po?ints of enemies. Hailey is a sniper class, after all, so it’s all about precision. There is some leeway if you aren’t the best shot by replacing the Special Mod Weak Point Expansion for something more general like Snowflake Conductor.

Still, Hailey will be used primarily for bossing like the Void Intercept Battles. She can also be used for ??general content purposes too, so don’t write her off ?completely.

The post The First Descendant: Best Hail??ey ??build and loadout appeared first on Destructoid.

The First Descendant update 1.1.0 is here, setting Seaso?n 1 into motion and adding a ton of new content, like a new Descendant, more quests, dungeons, and other goodies.

Hailey Scott is the brand-new Descendant in Season 1, joining the roster as a Ranged DPS. He?r Descendant Attribute is Chill, sharing the Attribute with Viessa.

This new season, Invasion, continues the story with the 'Mysterious Phenomena' quest. Twice-daily dungeons join the fray with puzzles and fights to solve as fast as possible, along with a new Battle Pass??. The limited challenge adds new cosmestics and other essentials to all platforms, along with the update, on Steam, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and 5.

Full The First Descendant Season 1 patch notes

The First Descendant's full patch notes read below, or you can check out the official blog post detailing its 1.1.0 update.

New Descendant: Hailey

• Added "Hailey Scott."

Hailey Skills

• [Passive Skill] Safe Strategic Retreat: The "Weak Point Damage" decreases when attacking nearby enemies, and increases when attacking distant enemies.
• [Active Skill 1] Cryo Round: Fires multiple Cryo Rounds at enemies to deal damage and inflict "Cryo."
  ã„?Enemies inflicted with "Cryo" receive additional damage from Hailey's firearm attacks.
• [Active Skill 2] Storm Snare: "Knocks back" enemies with a "Chill Vortex" and fires a giant Freezing Beam. Hit enemies are inflicted with "Cryo."
• [Active Skill 3] Cold Fury: Grants "Cold Fury" to herself every second.
  ã„?While in the "Cold Fury" state, her Movement Speed gradually decreases, but her Firearm Penetration and Critical Hit Rate for Firearms and Skills all increase significantly.
  ã„?Once "Cold Fury" reaches maximum stacks, she becomes immune to "Knockdown" and her Firearm and Skill Critical Hit Damage increases.
• [Active Skill 4] Zenith: Equips her "Unique Weapon." When attacking with the "Unique Weapon," greatly increases Penetration and Firearm ATK and deals additional Chill skill damage. Recovers MP upon attacking Weak Points. When the "Unique Weapon" skill ends, decreases the Cooldown of the skill depending on the number of bullets.

Added Hailey Research

• Researching "Enhanced Cells" requires 36 "Enhanced Cell DNA."
• Researching "Stabilizer" requires 36 "Stabilizer Components."
• Researching "Spiral Catalyst" requires 36 "Spiral Catalyst Links."
• Researching Hailey requires "Enhanced Cells," "Stabilizer," "Spiral Catalyst," and 36 "Data Chips."

Farming Hailey's Research Materials

• Hailey's "Enhanced Cell DNA," "Stabilizer Components," "Spiral Catalyst Links," and "Data Chips" can be acquired by completing "Invasion Dungeons."

  • Clear any Invasion Dungeon to acquire one of Hailey's Research Materials with a 100% chance.
  • Clear Invasion Dungeons faster to acquire up to 3 Hailey Research Materials at once.
  • Invasion events occur daily in two dungeons. Invasion Dungeons can be cleared twice per day.

• Hailey's Research Materials can also be acquired by defeating monsters in Hard Infiltration Operations. To farm Hailey's research materials faster, participate in the following Hard Infiltration Operations.

  • Hailey Enhanced Cell DNA: [Kingston] [Hard] - Magister Lab, Slumber Valley
  • Hailey Stabilizer Component: [Vespers] [Hard] - The Shelter, [Echo Swamp] [Hard] - The Chapel
  • Hailey Spiral Catalyst Link: [Agna Desert] [Hard] - The Asylum, [Agna Desert] [Hard] - Caligo Ossuary
  • Hailey Data Chip: [Hagios] [Hard] - The Haven, [White-night Gulch] [Hard] - Mystery's End

New Episode: Invasion

• After completing all existing main quests, the Invasion episode continues with the "Mysterious Phenomena" quest.
• Progress through the main quest "Altered Design" to unlock the new progression system "Inversion Reinforcement."
• Progress through the main quest "How to Hide the Truth" to unlock the new content "Invasion Dngeon."

Invasion Dungeon

• You can enter Invasion Dungeons from the Infiltration Operations Terminal.
• The Invasion event occurs daily in two of the "Hard Infiltration Operation" dungeons.
• You can choose to play either "Infiltration Operation" or "Invasion" in a dungeon where the Invasion event has occurred.
• Invasion Dungeons can only be played solo.
• While the number of entries isn't limited, you will no longer be able to enter the Invasion Dungeon once you've acquired all of the "Ironheart Particles," which are obtained by clearing the dungeon.
• Invasion Dungeons have unique mechanics for each Vulgus Legion, requiring different strategies.
  ã„?Legion of Immortality: The "Phase Separation Veil" blocks the entrance. As it nullifies all attacks, you need to overload it and shut it down. Defeat the enemies and feed their "Artificial Brains" into the Quantum Computing Unit. Unlock the entrance while the "Phase Separation Veil" is down.
  ã„?Order of Truth: You must survive the explosion from Inversion Energy and ancient Arche. Remove malignant tumors from the "Arche Pillar" and identify its symbol. You must find the "Ancestor Drone" that matches the symbol. After surviving the explosion, destroy the "Wall of Malignant Tumors" with the "Inversion Energy Emitter."
  ã„?Legion of Darkness: You must disable the encryption system sealed with Inversion Energy. Climb the "Central Control Unit" and identify the trait of the "Arche Tile" with Guide's help. Occupy "Arche Tiles" of the same color to decode the encryption. The Legion of Darkness Vulgus will try to take back the "Arche Tiles."
• The faster you clear Invasion Dungeons, the more Hailey Research Materials you can acquire.
• Clear Invasion Dungeons to acquire Gold and "Ironheart Particles (Inversion Reinforcement EXP)."

Inversion Reinforcement

• You can check the Inversion Reinforcement from your Inventory.
• Acquire "Ironheart Particles (Inversion Reinforcement EXP)" to level up your "Inversion Reinforcer."
• As the level of the "Inversion Reinforcer" increases, you will gain "Energy" which can be used to learn the Inversion Reinforcement Effects.

  • There are 5 types of Inversion Reinforcement Effects: "Hunt," "Attribute," "Recovery," "Survival," and "Season."
  • When you learn all 4 effects in the same line, the line's Collection Effect will be enabled at all times.
  • You can enable and use 3 of the Inversion Reinforcement Effects you've learned.
  • You cannot enable 2 effects in the same line simultaneously.
  • The Inversion Reinforcement Effects are applied to all Descendants.

• Inversion Reinforcement will be reset at the end of the Invasion Season.

Hard Difficul?ty Field �Collect ??Ironheart Particles

• Added the "Collect Ironheart Particles" task for the Hard Difficulty fields.
• Complete the task to acquire "Ironheart Particles (Inversion Reinforcement EXP)."
• The progress status of the "Collect Ironheart Particles" task will be reset at the end of the Invasion Season.

New Module: Luna's Modification Modules

• Singer's Mercy: When using a skill, places a speaker and grants buffs to allies near the speaker.
• Aggressive Melody: Changes the effects of "Passionate Stage" and "Delightful Stage" to the increase of Firearm Damage and Weak Point Damage.

Battle Pass

End of Pre-Season Battle Pass

• The Pre-Season Battle Pass, Battle Supply Shop, and Bonus Shop will be closed.
• You will automatically receive Battle Pass rewards you unlocked by leveling up but have not claimed.
• If you have any remaining Supply Coins, you will automatically receive the remaining items in the Battle Supply Shop in sequence.
• Remaining Supply Coins after the purchase of all Battle Supply items will expire and cannot be recovered.
• Unused Bonus Coins will expire and cannot be recovered.

Start of Invasion Season Battle Pass

• The new Invasion Season Battle Pass arrives.
• Get the new Ultimate Weapon, EXCAVA, as the Battle Pass reward.
• Acquire the helmetless head skins of Bunny (Exhilarating Breakaway), Valby (For Freedom), and Sharen (Tactical Decision).
• Also check out the cute cat back attachment "With Cats".
• Enjoy many more Battle Pass rewards, including free rewards.

Start of Invasion Season Battle Supply Shop

• The new Invasion Season Battle Supply Shop arrives.
• The Battle Supply Shop is all free. Level up your Battle Pass and obtain various skins.
• Acquire Bunny's "Golden Afterimage" body skin and "Voltage Control Mask" head skin.
• Acquire Valby's "Liquefaction Acceleration" body skin and "Hydraulic Adjustment Helmet" head skin.

Added New Products

• Added Hailey to the list of standard Descendants in the shop.
• Added "Hailey's Sniper Squad Full-Dress Uniform" premium skin package.
• Added Hailey's "Typical Army Beret" premium head skin.
• Added Hailey's "Hair & Makeup 1â€?and "Hair & Makeup 2" packages which include her head skin.
• Added Hailey's "Southern Front" and "Color from the Unknown" body skins.
• Added Hailey's "Milk Tea" makeup.
• Added "Lepic's Infectious Agent Survivor" premium skin package.
• Added "Yujin's Nightmare on Med Street" premium skin package.
• Added Ajax's "Mk. Dominator 02 Set" evolving skin.
• Added “Twisted Worshipâ€?female event skin.
• Added "Colossus: Dead Bride Skin Set" female event skin.
• Added "Colossus: Executioner Skin Set" male event skin.
• Added "Albion Fire Brigade Set" unisex event skin.
• Added "Gentlemanly" male event skin.
• Added 10 types of paint.

  • Clear Red-Orange, Glossy Cerise Pink, Matte Candlelight Yellow, Clear Fog Blue, Echo Swamp Brown, Sun-Kissed Beige, Sand Dust Beige, Milk Tea Beige, Enamel Deep Black, Real Matte Black

Hotfix 1.1.0

Content Improvements
(1) Content

• Added visual hints (Ecive effects, chat messages) for locating Encrypted Vaults.
• Replaced missions in Hard Infiltration Operations with more combat-oriented ones.
• Increased the EXP reward for completing Hard Infiltration Operations. Also increased EXP for defeating monsters by 1.5 times.
• You can now acquire rare basic materials as a reward for completing Hard Infiltration Operations.
• Increased EXP for defeating monsters in Normal Infiltration Operations by 1.5 times.
• Added directions to appear when using Ecive during missions.
• Monsters will no longer target players who are participating in other missions.
• Story dialogues will no longer be repeated in Hard Difficulty missions. As a result, Hard Difficulty missions will not play additional voice lines or subtitles.
• Changed the Immunity mechanics of certain Named Monsters. Replaced the sphere destruction mechanic of Eterllick, Celdir, Dmigor, and Plaudia with shooting weak points.
• Increased the barrier hit range of Named Monster Eterllick.
• Players will no longer be teleported when joining Largescale Outpost missions.
• Increased the Gold reward for completing Hard Difficulty Largescale Outposts by approximately 3 times.
• Improved the routes so that shards acquired from Void Fragments can be used on the Fusion Reactor in the same battlefield.
• More than doubled the amount of shards obtained from Void Fragments.
• Changed monster types and spawn locations in certain Void Fragment missions.

  • "Hagios: Dune Base," "Vespers: Moonlight Lake," "Echo Swamp: Abandoned Zone," and "Fortress: Frozen Valley"

• Removed the starting requirements (Void Shards) of Void Fusion Reactors and added requirements (Void Shards) to the Reconstructed Devices that appear in Fusion Reactors.
• Made an improvement so that only one type of shard is required when using the Reconstructed Device in a Void Fusion Reactor.
• Reduced the time to interact with Reconstructed Devices.
• Summoned Reconstructed Devices now expire 10 seconds after all participants have used them.

We are constantly monitoring feedback to further improv??e Outposts and Void Fragments. For long-term improvements, the dev?? team is considering ideas to evolve Outposts into a non-stop combat experience, as well as improving the farming accessibility of Void Fragments and Fusion Reactors with the integration of content.

In this 1.1.0 update, we've also changed the spawn location of certain Void Fragment missions to provide an efficient way to farm shards for each attribute. In addition, we've added snipers in certain Void Fragment areas to prevent the use of macros.
in certain Void Fragment areas
We hope these changes will mak?e your farming experience mor??e enjoyable.

• Players can now view the "Past Mission Results" from the menu after completing Special Operations, allowing them to restart the mission.
• Improved display of the mission tooltip information on the Special Operation and Infiltration Operation World Map screen.
• More than doubled the amount of shards that can be picked up in Special Operations.
• Acquire additional Descendant EXP when completing waves in Special Operations.

(2) UI/UX

• Fixed issue to allow multiple socket types to be assigned to a single module socket.

  • The socket type applied to Loadout Setting 1 can also be used for Settings 2 and 3 as well.

• For slots with multiple socket types, the socket type can be changed from the selected menu

  • Each socket type for Loadout Settings 1, 2, 3 can be changed so they all may differ.

• Fixed issue to allow the dismantling of equipment during combat.
• Added dead zone settings to the game controller options.
• Made improvements so that the Amorphous Materials linked to Fusion Reactors are displayed in the acquisition information, like Intercept Battles.
• Made improvements to allow the ability to designate the quantity of researches when researching enhancement materials.
• Reduced research time for [Standard/Precision] Ion Accelerator, Phase Exchanger, and Adjustment Control Axis.

With the addition of the research quantity selection feature, players can now research up to 500 Adjustment Control Axis at a time. This allows them to conduct more rese??arch in one go, reducing the number of visits to Anais. However, the inability to simultaneously conduct multiple research?? will reduce the amount of enhancement materials that can be acquired in a short period of time.

While we want to give players new features, we also want to make sure that players in certain situations aren't losing out. As a result, we've shortened the time it takes to?? research enhancement materials so that despite only doing one research at a time, you'll still acquire a similar amount of enhancement materials as before. We hope this will help players research and utilize enhancement materials more efficiently.

• Made improvements to display only modules you have in duplicate when combining modules.
• Increased the number of symbols that can be displayed, when designating them as Attached Items, to 8.
• Made improvements to allow the ability to set an "Equipment Option" category in "Filter all as junk" for Reactors and External Components in equipment.
• Changed the display location and design of the random options to improve inventory slots. Removed displays for the Reactor's attributes/Arche type and fixed the display for External Components set effects.
• The Reactor icon has changed so that it now varies, depending on the Arche type.
• Changed some External Component icons to differentiate their appearance based on their DEF, Shield, and HP stats.
• Schematized the "Amount of Owned Equipment" tooltip in inventory.
• Significantly increased the quantity of Shape Stabilizer you own.
• Improved the map to show the location of records needed to be found when progressing Descendant related quests.
• Made improvements by adding a Tracking On tab when researching, making it easier to view the tracked target.
• Improved the Intercept Battle screen to display the number of Linked Amorphous Materials players have at each Intercept Battle.
• Improved the ability to view "Mission Details" through the mission tooltip on the map.
• Improved the display of the red dot when there are unacquired Battle Pass items.
• Improved the ability to purchase a one-time, large quantity of enhancement materials at the shop.
• Improved the ability to preview each component of a bundled product without moving the screen.
• Improved the ability to view each Evolution Stage of an evolving skin in the shop.
• [Console] Added attributes and Arche keywords, by type, to the Descendant and Weapon Module screens, making it easier to find modules on console platforms as well.

(3) Descendants

• Jayber

  • Fixed an issue where some stats were not reflected in Jayber"s "Turret."
  • Skill Power Modifier, Additional ATK for skills when attacking Colossus/Legion of Darkness/Order of Truth/Legion of Immortality, Incoming Damage Modifier
  • Improved Jayber's "Turret Sync" effect to apply to summoned turrets.
  • When equipping skill module "Turret Engineering," instead of improving summoned turrets to create a "Turret Zone," increased cooldown of "Turret Engineering."

• Blair

  • Improved Blair's "Pitmaster" Skill so it now increases the Critical Hit Rate by the number of "Flame Zones" he has, up to a maximum of 5.
  • Increased Blair's "Flame Zone" Skill DMG.
  • Increased the DMG dealt by Blair's "Burn" Skill effect.
  • Made changes so that Blair's "Extinguish" Skill no longer retrieves "Flame Zones."
  • Improved "Taste of Aggression" effect to stack for the "Extinguish" Skill.
  • Improved the MP Heal per "Flame Zone" from the "Taste of Aggression" and "Power of Fire" effects to be proportional to Blair's Max MP.
  • Increased the maximum amount of "Flame Zones" that can be absorbed through the "Extinguish" Skill.
  • Increased the duration of the "Blaze Up" Skill, reducing its MP cost.
  • Improved the "Burn Taste" Skill so that the skill can be halted when pressing the button during use.

• Increased skill DMG of the "Burn Taste" skill and improved it to be affected by duration-related modules.
• Increased the Max Stack when equipping the "Incendiary Bomb" skill module, and reduced MP cost.
• Increased the number of "Small Fireballs" for the "Deadly Cuisine" skill when the "Classic Chef" skill module is equipped, and increased the effect of the "Pitmaster" skill based on the Flame Zone count.
• Ajax

  • Improved Ajax's "Orbit Barrier" and "Hyper Cube" barrier to be affected by attribute resistances, and increased the barriers' HP and DEF ratios.
  • Increased the ratios of barrier-related stats when the "Life Barrier" and "Void Barrier" skill modules are equipped.
  • Fixed an issue with continuously recovering shield for "Void Walk" and "Matrix Recomputation" skills and increased the Max Shield Up ratio.
  • Improved the "Void Walk" skill to have faster motion transitions when used while enhanced.
  • Modified the "Body Enhancement" skill to increase HP, DEF, and Shield, and improved it to grant 100% Void Energy when used, but increased the Cooldown and Skill Cost.
  • Changed the "Void Walk" skill so that it can be stacked when the "Void Charge" skill module is equipped, and increased the damage dealt proportional to DEF when using the "Void Walk" and "Expulsion" skills.
  • Improved "Void Charge" to restore "Void Walk" stacks and reset the Cooldown of "Expulsion" when used while enhanced.

In this update, we've made balance adjustments to Ajax, Bl?air, and Jayber. We've been closely analyzing feedback from the community and continue to monitor all Descendants and Ultimate Weapons. As we move forward with this Invasion Season, we'll continue to balance more Descendants and Ultimate Weapons based on your feedback. We'll do our best to ma?ke your experience more enjoyable and fair.

• Improved level balance for Descendant spawn sounds.
• Removed a voice that would play repetitively whenever hitting a note while Luna's "Noise Surge" skill module was equipped.

(4) Equipment

• Changed the 4-piece set effect of the Ultimate External Component "Bravery" to increase "Skill Duration" without any conditions.
• Increased the "Incoming Damage Modifier" values for the "Pain Reliever", "Sensory Dep (HP)", "Sensory Dep (MP)", and "Psychological Victory" modules.

Optimization Improvements

• Made some performance improvements when fighting many enemies.
• [PC, PS5, XSX] Made some performance improvements when using ray tracing.
• [PC] Optimized the Shader preparation stage.

Bug Fixes
(1) UI/UX

• Fixed an issue in the inventory where the DPS value within the weapon icon would change when designated as junk while in "View Module Stats" mode.
• Fixed an issue where the quantity tracker on the HUD would not update if you have Tracking On for an item you do not have on the Library screen.
• Fixed an issue where the "Start with the current squad" button would not display on the results screen after completing the final wave of Special Operations.
• Changed the squad recruitment countdown to no longer appear in the center of the screen when "Restart Mission" is selected in matchmaking.
• Fixed an issue where the icons for High-Value Mark for Arrest and Mark for Arrest's icon looked unnatural when viewing their acquisition information.
• Changed "Firearm Critical Hit Resistance" to display to 3 decimal points in the inventory's info screen as well.
• Fixed an issue with the Kingston Special Operation not being counted for the Resource Defense award.
• Fixed an issue where the "None" setting was showing as "Friends Only" in the Support Requests options.
• Fixed an issue where skipping the Descendant and Weapon research cutscenes would skip the acquisition result screen sound.
• Improved the display of names and weak points for enemy commanders and assassination targets so that they are now only displayed within the Ecive radius.

(2) Descendants

• Fixed an issue where, when using Bunny's "Lightning Emission" and "High-Voltage" skills, the first hit's connection effect would not appear.
• Fixed an issue where the status effect icon for Bunny's "Electric Transition" skill would appear to be the same as her Speed of Light icon.
• Fixed an issue where the "Ice Sphere" for "Viessa" and "Ultimate Viessa" looked the same.
• Fixed an issue where notes would not display in certain situations while Luna's "Noise Surge" skill module was equipped.
• Fixed an issue where some Descendants' skill damage was not being applied correctly to Void Fragments.

(3) Equipment

• Fixed an issue with the Ultimate Weapon "Smithereens" where the Fire Rate reduction from the effect of the Unique Ability "Fearlessness" was slower than stated.
• Fixed an issue where each effect's icon looked the same on the Unique Ability info screen of "The Final Masterpiece".
• Fixed an issue where some Ultimate External Components would display the same icon when triggering their set effects. (Annihilation, Polar Night, Venom Essence, Frozen Heart, Active Volcano)

(4) Modules

• Fixed an issue where the Shotgun module "Targeted Vulnerability" module would appear to have the same name as the "Weak Point Sight" module.
• Fixed an issue where icons for effects triggered by some ultimate modules were displayed as icons for other modules (Decimator, Passionate Sponsor, Mental Focus, Real-Life Fighter)

(5) Miscellaneous

• Improved an issue where characters would get stuck in some areas of the world.
• Fixed an issue where characters could move through terrain that was not intended to be traversable.
• Fixed an issue that caused effects to remain in some areas.
• Fixed an issue where the named monster Sigvore's Grenade skill generated 2 AOEs.
• Fixed an issue where the named monster Sigvore's Explosive skill was generated mid-air.
• Fixed an issue where named monsters would intermittently fail to teleport in their immunity phase.
• Fixed an issue where pressing the number 0 key in Kingston would briefly pan the camera to a different area.
• Fixed an issue where the target items would be flung around excessively in Seizure missions.
• Fixed an issue with the Void Fragment sound overlapping when restarting after aborting a Void Fragment mission.

The post The First Descendant upd??ate 1.1.0 patch notes: Season 1 Invasion, new Descendan??t Hailey, more appeared first on Destructoid.

Hailey is the newest character introduced with the Season 1 update on August 29, 2024, in The First Descendant. She could be a force to be reckoned with as she is only the second Descendant after Vi?essa to have the Chill Attribute.

Hailey's role in the game is of a Ranged DPS and uses a frozen sniper cannon that shoots Chill-infused beams and?? bullets. Like all other Descendants, you can unlock Hailey in two ways:

• Spend 900 Caliber
• Craft Hailey

Undoubt?edly, the first method is the fastest way to get her in the game but it c?osts real money, about $19.99 as you'll need to purchase the 1,060 Caliber pack.

T??he second method?? of unlocking Hailey is by crafting her, but for that, you'll need to grind the game a little.

How to craft Hailey in The First Descendant

First and foremost, collect all the necessary materials we've listed bel?ow to craft Hailey:

Hailey Enhanced Cells

• Monard Shard 246x
• Compound Coating Material 239x
• Polyatomic Ion Particle 96x
• Hailey Reinforced Cell DNA 36x
• 200,000 Gold

Hailey Stabilizer

• Nanopolymers 363x
• Reverse Charging Coil 455x
• Negative Ion Particle 47x
• Hailey Ion Particle 36x
• 200,000 Gold

Hailey Spiral Catalyst

• Repton 422x
• Carbon Crystal 554x
• Common Carbon Activator 14x
• Hailey Spiral Catalyst Ring 36x
• 200,000 Gold

Hailey Data Chip (contains Hailey's Arche expression formula)

• Hailey Data Chip 36x

Once you'v??e collected everything listed above, head over to Magister Anais in Albion and speak to her to craft Hailey. Then, click on the Research Reque?st button and this will initiate the research process.

Spend an?? additional 400,000 Gold and wait for 16 hours for the entire process to complete.

The post How to unlock Hailey in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Murky Energy Residue is an essential resource in crafting characters and catalysts in The First Descend?ant. You don't get it by research but needs to be farmed and here's how you can do that easily.

You can use the Murky Energy Residue reagent to craft a Stabilizer for Valby as well as the Crystallization Catalyst. The best part about getting this resource is that you don't need to play the game in Hard mode and the farming process is quite simple too.

Best way to farm Murky Energy Residue in The First Descendant

Murky Energy Residue is mostly found in Ste??ri??le Land at:

• The Forgottense in the Restricted Zone (Southeast corner of Sterile Land)
• Unknown Laboratory in the Classified Area (Northwest corner of Sterile Land)

These two POIs are Calling of the Descendant missions where you have to defeat monsters to get these reagent drops. You can fast travel between these points by using either ??of the temporary or permanent Outposts.

The monsters drop approximately 10x Murky Energy Residues per run, sometimes more, so you'll need to defeat them quite a few times if you want to craft Valby. That's because Valby Stabilizer consumes 40 such reagents during its research process. This means you'll need to defeat this monster at least four times to get enough materials.

Best Descendant to farm Murky Energy Residue

Bunny is the best Descendant to farm Murky Energy Residue. After several trial runs using different Descendants, we found Bunny to be the most suitable candidate?? as she is fast and can deal splash damage to many enemies at once.

Bunny is?? also one of the best and least expensive Descendants you can unlock early in the game, so not choosing this character f??or these runs would be a no-brainer.

The post How t??o get Mur?ky Energy Residue in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Luna is the latest character introduced with the July 31 update in The First Descendant. Here are all the materials you'll need to add th??is support character to your Descendant list.

Nexon Games released The First Descendant 1.0.5 update on July 31 where Luna is one of the characters introduced alongside Ultimate Valby. Sh??e is a Non-attribution character who can grant various effects to her alli??es using her music.

How to get Luna in The First Descendant

You can get Luna in two ways: by spending 900 Caliber or crafting her.

The first method is the fastest way to get her in the game but it will cost you money. Since the in-gam??e store doesn't give you the option to purchase 900 Caliber, you'll need to purchase 1060 Caliber which will ultimately cost you $19.99.

The second way?? to get ?her is by crafting. Like all other Descendants, this method is time-consuming and requires you to collect Research Materials and Gold.

How to craft Luna in The First Descendant

Speak to Magister Anais in Albion to craft Lu??na and for that, you've to collect all the necessary materials f??irst. We've listed all of these items below:

Luna Enhanced Cells

• Silicon 430x
• Carbon Crystal 554x
• Pure Energy Residue 40x
• Luna Enhanced Cells Blueprint 1x
• 200,000 Gold

Luna Stabilizer

• Flectorite 292x
• Hellion 303x
• Highly-concentrated Energy Residue 34x
• Luna Stabilizer Blueprint 1x
• 200,000 Gold

Luna Spiral Catalyst

• Superfluid 571x
• Hardener 386x
• Specialized Biometal 46x
• Luna Spiral Catalyst Blueprint 1x
• 200,000 Gold

Luna Code

• Luna Code 1x

After collecting everything, click on the Research Request button while talking to Anais. This will initiate Luna's research process. You'll need an additional 400,000 Gold and wait for 16 hours for the entire research process to complete.

Luna is the 15th Desce?ndant to be a??dded to the roster with the Synthesizer Gun being her trademark weapon.

The post How to unlock Luna in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Long gone are the days when a game is released and no further support, be it additional content or maintenance, is offered. When it comes to the likes of The First Descendant and its looter shooter ilk, weekly maintenance is typically a known quantity. Even knowing this, it can be hard to track down exactly when maintenance is going to take place. So, just when is maintenance for The First Descendant?

What time is The First Descendant's weekly maintenance?

For the upcoming Week 5 Patch, The First Descendant servers will be down from 3 ??a.m. ET to 8 a.m. ET on July 3?1, 2024.

At the time of this writing, The First Descendant doesn't have a dedicated weekly maintenance window. Unlike other studios, Nexon typically doesn't announce upcoming maintenance on its site or X account. Instead, it opts to publish the information on its official Discord server.

The prior week's patch was also on a Wednesday whereas the two weeks before were on Thursday??s and the first week's maintenance was on Wednesday. While many games, especially those in the live service space, have a dedicated window, it's still unclear if Nexon will move towards that or continue to pla?y it fast and loose.

There are pros and cons to this style of maintenance. On the one hand, there's no dedicated downtime that players can anticipate and play around, like in Destiny 2 or World of Warcraft on Tuesdays. On the other hand, Nexon has shown a willingness to patch The First Descendant far quicker than most games. This, in itself, is also a double-edged sword as both bugs and unintentional farms, like the Valby run, can be quickly taken care of.

The post When is maintenance for The First Descendant? appeared first on Destructoid.

You'd be forgiven for thinking Ajax isn't an interesting character. At first glance, he's just another dude in medieval-inspired armor who likes to hide in his bubble. The First Descendant has no shortage of characters with more appeal in terms of design and power sets. However,? from your very first steps in Kingston to taking on the Hard Mode Colo??ssi, a good Ajax is indispensable. Here's how to tap into that power for yourself.

Ajax nails the Titan fantasy better than Destiny 2

Ajax is different from other Descendants in that he is the wall upon which enemy swarms break rather than dancing through the battlefield. He is the epitome of the Void Titan fantasy in Destiny 2, but isn't hampered in the same way.

Making use of barriers, bubbles, leaping slams, and Void explosions, Ajax feels like he was designed just for those Titan mains coming over from Destiny 2. When sitting in his Hyper Cube, ?Firearm and Explosive ATK are increased. If using the Enhanced version, this effect applies to allies as well. By buffing Skills with Descendant Mods, Ajax becomes a lo?op of RoI.

Ajax Skills

(Passive) Event Horizon: Using a Skill generates (1) Void Energy with up to (3) total. Level 1 decreases cooldown by 5%, Level 2 by 10%, and Level 3 by 20%. Grants additional effects to Skills, whereupon the Void Energy is deple?ted.

Orbit Barrier: Creates a barrier that blocks and reflects damage? on the enemy. When enhanced, reflected damage is increased. The max reflection damage rate is based on DEF??, followed by Skill Power.

Void Walk: Leap into the air and come slamming down, damaging and? stunning enemies. When enhanced, leap duration is increased.

Expulsion: Ajax unleashes an ex??plosive blast, damaging enemies and knocking them back. ?When enhanced, base damage and range are increased.

Hyper Cube: Ajax creates a protective bubble. While inside, incoming damage from outside the sphere is blocked and outgoing Firearm and Explosive ATK are increased. Whe?n enhanced, outgoing Firearm and Explosive ATK for allies ar?e also increased.

Recommended Weapons & Mods for Ajax

Tamer: This machine gun is an all-around nightmare for the Vulgus. It typically drops with an already high DPS value, but can be boosted to obscene levels with the right mods. Throw on some increases to Crit??ical Hit Rate and Damage alongside some elemental Mods when battling Colossi and you've got it made in the shade.

• Action and Reaction: Increases Firearm ATK and Recoil
• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Firearm ATK
• Fire Rate UP: Increases Fire Rate
• Better Insight: Increases Firearm Critical Hit Rate
• Better Concentration: Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage

Restored Relic: As far as Ultimate launchers are concerned, I'm a big fan of Restored Relic. It fires tracking rounds, so being a little off in your aim isn't a punishment. When you're hunker?ed down behind an Orbit Ba?rrier inside of a Hyper Cube, it can be hard to make out what you're shooting at.

• Action and Reaction: Increases Firearm ATK and Recoil
• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Firearm ATK
• Fire Rate UP: Increases Fire Rate
• Strengthen First Shot: Increases damage of first shot after reload

Lightspeed Barrel: For those who haven't been able to farm Restored Relic, Lightspeed Barrel ??is a fantastic Rare launcher. I'll be honest in that it's become my go-to almost entirely due to its appearance. There's something about the design that tickles my brain in the right way.

• Action and Reaction: Increases Firearm ATK and Recoil
• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Firearm ATK
• Fire Rate UP: Increases Fire Rate
• Strengthen First Shot: Increases damage of first shot after reload

Recommended Descendant Mods for Ajax

Ajax's strength is offense through defense. Both Orbit Barrier and Hyper Cube deal damage, buff Descendants, and offer protection against incoming fire. While buffing with traditional Skill Mods is useful, we want to instead buff Ajax's HP and DEF first as the aforement??ioned Skills scale off those values.

• Mid-Air Maneuvering: Modifies the Grappling Hook to be cast mid-air and increases maximum Module capacity.
• Increased HP: Increases Max HP
• Time Distribution: Reduces Skill Cooldown while increasing Max HP
• Agony: Increases Max MP and DEF
• Battle of Stamina: Increases Max HP and Skill Duration
• Increased DEF: Increases DEF
• An Iron Will: Increases DEF when Shield is at 0%

The post The best Ajax build in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

I'll admit that Nexon has surprised me in its post-release support of The First Descendant. As someone coming from Destiny 2, it's refreshing to see quick responses, patches, and the developer actually listen to feedback. The good news keeps comi??ng as Nexon has started teasing what's to come in next week's update, including Luna and Ultimate Valby.

What's coming in The First Descendant Week 5 Update

The Week 5 Update for The First Descendant is rapidly approaching. In a post on X, it was revealed the release date had moved ahead from August 1, 2024, to July 31, 2024. Nexon's other announcements have been mixed across X, its official Discord server, and The First Descendant site. I've com?piled everything announced thus far below.

New Ultimate Descendant - Valby

Valby is the next Descendant to get an Ultimate form, called the "Sea of Emerald." She comes with two new Mods, both of which are quite enticing. Less enticing is the design of her ultimate outfit. As a Valby main, I'm not digging the overall lack of flow and cohesion. That, and slapping what looks like a cybernetic diaper on her, has me feeling like the design team missed the mark? here.

• Spiral Tidal Wave: Replaces Bubble Bullet with a projectile that shoots straight ahead. This Mod is ideal for "attracting the impurities of Gluttony," making Ultimate Valby a strong pick for contending with the new Colossus.
• Hydro Pressure Bomb: Replaces Plop Plop. Valby leaps forward and deals AoE damage. Hydro Pressure Bomb's damage scales based on the number of enemies hit.

New Descendant - Luna

Players that have made it through The First Descendant's campaign should recognize Luna. Nexon has listened to fan feedback and will be making her the next Descendant to join the roster. Sporting a synthesizer gun that looks a lot like Lucio's, Nexon is blurring the line between ?inspiration and idea? theft.

Furthering the comparison is how Luna's powers work. Luna's synthesizer becomes more powerful when fired in rhythm to the music being played and further enhances other Descendant's abilities. When playing relaxing music, "allies' mentality recovers and resource consumption decreases." When playing upbeat music, "allies' Skill Power increases." Upon release, Luna will have two uniq??ue Mods available to her.

• Nimble Footsteps: Enhances Luna's mobility and increases the range of her performance effect.
• Noise Surge: Luna switches roles from support to damage dealer. Luna is able to build an Inspiration Gauge that summons a stage to recover mental strength and shields once full.

New Colossus - Gluttony

The Devourer has undergone some changes and has?? now become something new. A beast that feeds itself on Void Energy, Descendants will need to exploit its mining phase and survive its cooling phase.

New Ultimate Weapon - Peace Mediator

The Peace Mediator is a hand cannon that can fire both single shots and bursts. As a fan of hand cannons in any game, I'm glad to see more coming to The First Descendant.

New Ultimate Mod - Arche Concretion

The Arche Concretion increases defense and "mentality" when using Skills while decreasing movement speed and attack power. Nexon has stated? that it's a good pick for Luna and Ajax, but can still prove useful to other Descendants.

Planned Balance Adjustments

• Buffs for Valby, Blair, and Freyna's AoE Skills.
• Buffs to Enduring Legacy, Secret Garden, and Nazeistra's Devotion to increase firepower with critical settings.
• Buffs to single-shot weapons.
• Buff to activation rate of unique ability for Greg's Reversed Fate.

The post The First Descendant shows off Luna and Ultimate Valby ahead of next week’s release appeared first on Destructoid.

The First Descendant doesn't have much in the way of a compelling story, so players can be fo??rgiven for putting off Bunny's personal mission. Comprised of equal parts scavenger hunt, Vulgus hunts, and crying, this adventure takes around an hour to complete. For your efforts, you'll nab a unique cosmetic fo??r Bunny along with a Crystallization Catalyst. Here's how to complete it in record time.

Discover the fate of Bunny's parents

1. The first record

Once you've unlocked Bunny, you'll receive a quest to speak with Alpha in Albion. He'll give Bunny a record, "Transcript of Operation Records - Restricte??d Zone: Level 1 Classification." To listen to the record, open your map and select the "Journal" ta??b. From there, select "Records" and "Descendant Records."

2. The second record

After listening to the record, you need to retrieve another journal in the Restricted Zone of the Sterile Land. Proceed to the southernmost point and look down to sp??ot the journal. Collect it and listen to the record "Emergency Communication Records - Agent Cayden Voltia." With the record in hand, it's time to return to Albion to speak with Alpha and Nell.

4. The third record

Nell has a lead on another journal in The Ruins of Vespers. The record is on top of the ruins across from the Void Mission: Void Fragment. Listen to the "Colon Emergency Orders" record and head back to Albion. Once there, speak with Gley and Sharen to get a lead on the next record.

5. The fourth record

The next record is in the Derelict Covert in Echo Swamp. Use your grapple hook or the moving platforms to ascend the highest tree house. The record will be on the rooftop of a small shack. Listen to the fourth record by selecting "Incomplete Chat Log" in your collection. Travel back to Albion and speak with Anais.

6. Collect the data chip fragments

Anais will be able to extract more data once Bunny has supplied her with data chip fragments from Agna Desert. You're headed to the Void Fusion Reactor - Agna Desert Vermilion Waste. Before you go, make sure you have (12) Organic Void Shard and (3) Inorganic Void Shard as they're requir?ed to fire up the reactor.

On Normal Mode, the Duplicate Enhanced Power Drakkul is level 44. This robot has a big nasty hammer?? and is fond of leap??ing forward with a smash attack. Keep moving at a distance and you'll have the data chip fragments in no time. Bring them back to Anais in Albion.

7. Obtain the security bypass tool

Anais is able to access the information, but needs a Vulgus security bypass tool so as not to leak the info to the public. Travel to the Shipment Base in White-night Gulch ?and begin the Vulgus Strategic Outpost. There ?are four power units and a boss to destroy in the outpost. Once they're taken care of, return to Anais with the tool.

8. Melt the Pyromaniac

Anais requires another component to track the signal and the Pyromaniac is known to carry it. If you're having a hard time with the fight, check out this handy guide. Once the Colossus is down, report back to ?Anais.

9. Revenge is a dish best served electrified

After tuning in the frequency, Anais is able to send Bu?nny to where ??it originated. This is a solo run on the Abandoned Magister Lab. The enemy density is abnormally high, but this is Bunny's time to shine thanks to her AoE pulse.

At the end of the dungeon will be the Shrieking Verves. This boss packs a nasty punch and can drop yo??u in just a few shots. Use the room to your advantage and keep a column or some machinery between the two of you. Once this pain in the butt is pushing up daisies, return to Anais.

10. Happy birthday

Anais, Sharen, and Gley have some comforting words for Bunny and? the last recording her parents sent. With that emotional gut punch still smarting, go talk to Alpha and prepare? to cry.

The post How to complete Bunny’s quest in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

While the natural instinct is to find a favorite character and devote all of your time and resources to them, The First Descendant is designed around having a roster of characters that specialize in various activities. There's no HM Slave here and you'll be running into walls unless you diversify. Enzo is the pick for opening Encrypted Vaults, Bunny for various farms, and Gley for ruthlessly murd??ering C??olossi. This build will turn our vampire mommy into Levi Ackerman.

A vampire and a Colossus walk into a bar...

Gley is one of, if not the, most complicated characters in The First Descendant. She swaps between forms, lacks shields and mana, and fuels her damage by using harvested health orbs as a resource. She's terrific when specializing in an aspect of the game, but there's no build that allows her to trans??cend everything simultaneously. Thankfully all we need her to do is clear some of the hardest content in the game and nothing else. Gley is our designated hitter.

Combining the Increased Sensory Skill with the Vestigial Organ rocket launcher allows Gley to become a mobile anti-colossus unit. Being frenzied increases this damage and the Real Life Fighter Mod turns up the heat by stacking increas??ed damage when hitting Weak Points. Be it the Shadow Realm or Fla?vor Town, Gley is going to banish these oversized monsters somewhere.

The tradeoff is that Gley requires a lot of management and situational awareness. While frenzied, Gley's healing is cut in half, ?meaning you need to deactivate the Skill to heal and then turn it back on before resuming damage. Additionally, her key Skill, Increased Sensory, decreases her speed by 50% while frenzied. Should a Colossus become spry, you'll be in for a world of hurt and unable to get away quickly.

Gley Skills

(Passive) Thirst: Reduces incoming damage? while Gley isn't frenzied. Defeated enemies have a chance to?? drop health recovery orbs.

Frenzied: Gley becomes frenzied, increasing Firearm ATK an??d Penetration while also reducing HP Rec??overy.

Life Siphon: Gley rips the life from nearby enemies which HP Recovery based on the number of foes hit. If frenzied, Life Siphon deals increased damage based on HP. If in a non-frenzied state, Gley gains Vigor prop??ortional to the number of enemies hit.

Increased Sensory: If used while Gley is? frenzied, she is able to fire weapons with infinite ammo for a time. In a non-frenzied state, Increased Sensory increases the amount of health recovery orbs generated.

Massacre: Gley conjures a pistol whose amount of ammo is determined by t??he amount of Power of Life (health orbs) obtained. If frenzied, increases damage proportional to HP. If non-frenzied, Massacre fires non-lethal rounds that stun enemies.

Recommended Weapons & Mods for Gley

Vestigial Organ: This rocket launcher is absolutely critical to this build due to its fire rate. No other rocket launcher comes close. When Increased Sensory is active and frenzied, Gley can hold down the trigger and fire so many rounds into a Colossus that it can impact the game's performance for other players. As for weapon perks, we want Weak Point Damage, Explosive ATK,?? and Bonus Firearm ATK (vs. Colossus).

• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Explosive ATK
• Weak Point Sight: Increases Weak Point Damage
• Action and Reaction: Increases Explosive ATK and Recoil
• Fire Rate UP: Increases Fire Rate
• Real Life Fighter: Increases Firearm ATK for 5s (up to 10 stacks) when hitting a Weak Point. Missing the Weak Point deducts two stacks. Accuracy is also reduced.

Recommended Descendant Mods for Gley

The goal of this build is ?to have so little cooldown that Gley can continually unload rockets into Colossi's faces. Part of that is increasing her survivability?? with increased defense and max HP. This is the more tedious part of the build as it requires using an Energy Activator and several Crystallization Catalysts to reach its full potential. It will take some time (or cash), but is worth the effort to have a dedicated character that can farm each Colossus.

• Mid-Air Maneuvering: Modifies the Grappling Hook to be cast mid-air and increases maximum Module capacity.
• Focus on Non-Attribute: Increases Non-Attribute Skill Power and decreases Skill Cooldown
• Focus on Singular: Increases Singular Skill Power Modifier and decreases Skill Cooldown
• HP Amplification: Increases Max HP and decreases Max Shield
• Maximize Duration: Increases Skill Duration and Decreases Skill Power Modifier
• HP Collector: Recovers a percentage of Max HP when defeating an enemy
• MP Conversion: Decreases Skill Cooldown and Max MP
• Nimble Fingers: Decreases Skill Cooldown
• Increased HP: Increases Max HP
• Skill Extension: Increases Skill Duration
• Increased DEF: Increases DEF

The post The best Gley build in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

The First Descendant has a great deal of appeal, which is due in large part to its attractive Descendants and their Skills. Of those, Valby immediately caught my attention because I'm a free spirit who longs to be in a New England cottage by the sea. That, and she's a water bender who can rule the battlefield like Poseidon angered by tourists urinating in the shallows. What follows is the best all??-around build for tackling mobs and Colossi alike.

Flow like water

Valby is unique in her fighting style. She's a ??mixture of DPS, add-clear, and support. Her Skills coat the floor like a sloppy janitor with a DoT. This standing water primes her other abilities by decreasing MP cost when standing in it. Coupled with an Ultimate that sucks each enemy afflicted by? the DoT into a suffocating bubble and Valby, like Cheddar Bay Biscuits, is a great addition to any setting.

Valby Skills

(Passive) Water Intake: MP cost is decreased when u??sing Skills while standing in water. This includes water created by Skills.

Bubble Bullet: Fires a bouncing projectile that creates a puddle where it collides. Inflicts DoT and applies the Laundry affliction to enemies either hit by it or those standing in the AoE. Bubble Bullet is an inexpensive opener that paints the f??loor and creates a larger area for Valby to deploy other skills.

Plop Plop: Valby creates an AoE?? around herself and teleports to a designated area where another AoE is created, knocking down surrounding enemies. Plop Plop's cooldown is reduced based on the number of foes knocked down. There's a wind-up for this Skill during which Va?lby isn't immune. While not a "get out of jail free" card, it's great for disrupting a large mob and applying Laundry.

Cleanup: Valby adopts the shape of water and glides along the ground, leaving a wake of damaging water. While in this state, Valby can't use weapons or skills and cannot jump. The tradeoff is well worth it as Valby lays down a gigantic kill field, is largely invulnerable, ??a??nd is the second fastest Descendant in the game. Cleanup is a great way to get mobs under control, get away from an aggressive boss, and revive downed allies.

Laundry Bomb: Valby pulls out a launcher and can fire off three water bombs. Upon impact, these bombs create large bubbles which ensnare foes and deal DoT. When used by itself, Laundry Bomb is all but worthless. It's hard to aim, doesn't do a lot of damage, and is useles against bosses. However, when used on a pack of enemies already afflicted by Laundry, this Ultimate will yank each one of them into a tiny bubble. Combo that with a weapon like Thunder Cage and?? not much is standing in your way, you sassy electric eel.

Recommended Weapons & Mods for Valby

Tamer: This machine gun is one of the absolute best weapons in The First Descendant thanks to its utterly insane scaling. Not only does it usually come ?with some incredibly high stats, but those are easy to take to Super Saiyan levels with the right Mods.

Tamer is going? to be your bread-and-butter weapon, but is best used against bosses and Colossi. The followin??g Mods will buff not only the overall Firearm ATK level, but massively improve its Critical Hit Damage. It's time to make the numbers go up!

• Action and Reaction: Increases Firearm ATK and Recoil
• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Firearm ATK
• Fatal Critical: Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage and Firearm Critical Hit Rate
• Better Concentration: Increases Firearm Critical Hit Damage
• Fire Rate UP: Increases Fire Rate
• Hit Rate Insight: Increases Accuracy and Firearm Critical Hit Rate

Thunder Cage: I generally don't like SMGs in any game, but it's hard to argue with the murder baby that Valby and Thunder Cage create. Its unique ability, Ov??ercharge, has a chance to turn defeated enemies into Electric bombs. Using this in conjunction with Valby's Laundry Bomb (which conveniently groups enemies), and our little water bender is an add-clearing machine.

• Rifling Reinforcement: Increases Firearm ATK
• Action and Reaction: Increases Firearm ATK and Recoil
• Electric Enhancement: Adds Electric ATK based on a percentage of Firearm ATK
• Electric Gunbarrel: Increases Electric ATK while reducing Fire Rate
• Bullet Rain: Increases Fire Rate and Firearm ATK

Recommended Descendant Mods for Valby

Valby's kit is all about continuously throwing out abilities to create a kill area. As such, we want maxim??um duration, cooldown, and Skill damage. Additional buffs to DEF and Max HP will turn Valby into a watery tank.

• Mid-Air Maneuvering: Modifies the Grappling Hook to be cast mid-air and increases maximum Module capacity.
• Time Distribution: Decreases Skill Cooldown and increases Max HP
• Skill Expansion: Increases Skill Effect Range
• Nimble Fingers: Decreases Skill Cooldown
• Power Increase: Increases Skill Power
• Skill Extension: Increases Skill Duration
• Increased HP: Increases Max HP
• Technician: Increases Skill Power Modifier
• Increased DEF: Increases DEF

The post The best Valby build in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Like many other loot-based games, The First Descendant has already experienced its fair share of infinite loot farming locations. Intentional or not, the developer is now taking ste??ps to fix one such location??, but it is choosing to do it in the best way possible.

A hotfix will buff all other farms, not nerf the infinite one

A recently discovered loot farming location in The First Descendant is capable of an unlimited output of loot. Called 'The Valby Run' by the community, the Strategic Outpost location within the Fortress can respawn enemy mobs infinitely. As a result, it's capable of offering item drops at around a 2-3 times higher rate than other locations, according to the developer.

Since this was completely unintentional and because we're so used to it with other loot-bas??ed games, everyone expected this to get patched out sooner than later. Instead, the Director, Minseok Joo has announced Patch 1.0.4. Instead of removing the incredibly high efficiency of loot within this mission, all other Strategic Outpost locations will now match the efficiency.

The First Descendant Patch 1.0.4 notes

Although the developer originally stated no additional patch will be necessary next week, it will instead deploy a hotfix, titled Patch 1.0.4.?? It will do the following:

• Reduce cooldown time for Vulgus Strategic Outpost
• Rebalance locations for collecting Void Fragments
• Update other farming locations to match efficiency equivalent to The Fortress Outpost

Far too often we see developers nerf everything fun and efficient into the ground to prevent players from progressing more quickly than intended. As a result, the rare buff-everything-else method the developers of The First Descendant are taking is much appreciated.

The post The F??irst Descendant dev just announ?ced the best possible fix for an infinite loot farm appeared first on Destructoid.

Gold is a type of currency that you earn in The First Descendant by just playing, but after a while, you'll have to farm it. You may be sitt?ing on millions by the time you’re halfway through?? normal mode, but you’re going to need so much more.

Best way to farm gold in The First Descendant

The best way to farm gold in The First Descendant is by spamming the Abandoned Refinery Unit mission in the Echo Swamp region on Hard mode. You can fin?d this in the Abandoned Zone area in this region, just u?nder the main Outpost. 

This mission node is considered to be the ‘loot cave�of The First Descendant. You can easily farm up loads of Kuiper Shards, weap??ons, mods, and gold here. XP gains are also de??cent here, but there are better methods.

In terms of gold gains, almost every enemy will drop a few thousan?d per kill. Just make sure to pick up all the yellow drops you see in these runs.

You simply have to kill a few mobs?????????????????????????? of enemies starting from the top of the cliff, then underground. When you complete the mission, you should end up in a cavern jus??t below where you started.

You can quickly run back to the mission s??tart and repeat it. Keep doing this until you burn out or run into overcrowded inventory issues.

When you start running into inventory issues, you can sell all the excess weapons, components, and reactors gained from enemy drops.

Best gold farm build in The First Descendant

The best build for farming gold on this mission in The First Descendant is to use Bunny. Simply cast her fi?rst ability, Speed of Light, and pa??ir it with her second, Lightning Emission. 

As you’re running quickly during her first ability, the Lightning Emission will create pulses more frequently, damaging and killing enemies quicker too. You do not need?? to have an optimized build, but you do want to prioritize decent survivability, skill dur??ation, and skill power. 

You can easily run around enemies, including the shielded spike enemies that await you underground. The Ao??E damag?e that Bunny can dish can easily complete this mission in under two minutes. 

The post Best gold farm in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Before you can square up against the final Normal Mode Colossus in The First Descendant, you'll need to take down Swamp Walker. This mo??ss-covered monstrosity is a far more aggressive and lethal version of the Grave Walker. You'll need to build a resistance to the Toxic attribute and keep your head on a swivel if you want to emerge unscathed.

The 'Ken' to Grave Walker's 'Ryu'

Swamp Walker is a level 82 fight and plays nearly identically to the introductory Colossus fight. The biggest difference is the egregious amount of Toxic attack??s and AoE this walking tank throws out. At a minimum, your Toxic Resistance should be 2600, but if you have the Kuiper to spend, every extra bit helps.

This C?olossus is very weak against Electric attacks, so be sure to throw some Electric Enhancement Mods on your weapons. They're relatively inexpensive to enhance and make a big difference.

Recommended Descendants, weapons, & mods

• Descendant: Bunny, Ultimate Bunny

  • Swamp Walker is weak against Electric attacks, making Bunny and her Ultimate version the Rabbits of Caerbannog.

• Weapons

  • Tamer: An all-around fantastic weapon thanks to its high DPS output, range, and ammo capacity.
  • Executor: The unique Impending Judgement ability electrocutes the enemy and increases firearm ATK.

• Descendant Mods

  • Toxic Antibody: Provides resistance to Toxic attacks.
  • Increased DEF: Provides a percentage-based boost to the Defense stat.

Swamp Walker attacks

Swamp Walker doesn't have much in terms of unique attacks. Instead, the armored crab continually unleashes a salvo of Toxic projectiles, creating damaging pools on the ground. Hiding under the Colossus to?? avoid these attacks isn't advised as it will unleash a large Toxic cloud to flush you out.

Swamp Walker strategy

Roly-Poly's, tiny beige versions of the Swamp Walker, will occasionally spawn thr?oughout the fight. They don't do a lot of damage and are slow-moving. It's t?his similarity to zombies that makes them deadly. Don't let too many spawn, lest you become overwhelmed. Though they're not filled with delicious crab meat, they do contain ammo and health packs.

During the fight, Swamp Walker will enter a Frenzy state where it cannot be damaged until the knee canisters are destroyed. Once in a Frenzy, Swamp Walker will squa??t down in place and continue to use its top half as a turret with 360 degrees of coverage. Each of its six legs will sprout a destructible canister. Show Swamp Walker why you failed medical school and test those reflexes like the Colossus didn'?t meet its deductible.

The post How to beat the Swamp Walker in The F???irst Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

The Devourer is one of the many Void Intercept bosses you’ll face in The First Descendant. It’ll be a pain for those who are not prepared, so we’ll go over a quick way to topple?? this toxi??c giant.

Preparing for the Devourer in The First Descendant

Before you take on the Devourer in The First Descendant, you want to l???ook over the stats and destructible parts. 

First, see that it’s weak to Pierce and Electric, so using weapons that utilize that will be essential?? to taking this Colossus down. Also, if your weapons have the Bonus Firearm ATK stat on them vs Colossus, it’ll help even mo??re.

As for the destructible parts, you can focus on its shoulder pads so you can perform Grapple attacks on them once they become yellow?. Doing enough damage to those parts will temporarily incapacitate it, making it? easier to attack the sensors on its head or the core cover on its chest.

Ideally, you’d want to only attack the shoulders and knees while it’s moving around. Focus fire on each part to make i??t go down for a few moments and then move toward the other weak spots.

Avoid Toxin damage at all costs

The Devourer deals Toxin?? damage primarily, so you want to use the Toxic Antibody and Polygenic Antibody mods for your Descendant to mitigate damage. It has a lot of AoE potential, making some attacks almost impossible to fully avoid. Between the spikes and the toxic puddles, it’s best to tank the damage and heal when you ca??n.

As for its resistance, do not use any form of Toxin damage towards it during the fig?ht. The more you do, the faster the meter below its health will fill up. When that pink meter is full, it’ll then become enraged and invincible. The meter will go up regardless, but Toxin damage will make it go to this phase more often.

Because of this, it isn’t ideal to bring a Descendant like Freyna into this fight. All of her abilities will make this fight a heada??che. 

The enraged phase

Once the Devourer’s pink bar fills up, it’ll be immune to damage until you destroy the linked Symbiont machines with the green barriers around them. You physically have to go inside?? the barriers and destroy them so it’ll make the boss vulnerable?? to damage again.

During this phase, enemies will also spawn. This is the perfect time to kill them for health and ammo pickups. Just don’t take too long, as thi??s fight is on a ten-minute timer.

The post How to beat the Devourer in The First Descendant: Weaknes?ses and strategy appeared first on Destructoid.

As The First Descendant is a looter shooter, the game's core revolves around collecting all sorts of gear to improve your build or provide materials so you can then upgrade your build's ge??ar. This mainly focuses on weapons and passives at ?its core, but new Descendants can greatly help.

One such Descendant is fairly easy to acquire once you reach an early region, and can prove quite useful. Here's how to unlock Freyna in The First Descendant.

Where to get Freyna in The First Descendant

If you don't want to buy Freyna with real money, you'll need to grind for four of her components. These are found across the Vespers and Sterile Land regions as rewards from certain missions. For the first three components, you can find their location and the drop chances bel??ow:

If any of the above missions are inaccessible, you'll need to progress the main story until they're available. As for the fourth component, Freyna Code, you can acquire this as a possible drop from the Anomalous Material Pattern: Freyna. This can be farmed for from the Rockfall: Vulgus Strategic Outpost mission in the Rockfall zone of the Sterile Land with a 100% chance to d?rop. Once?? you have it, open the Anomalous Material through a Void Intercept Battle to have a small chance of receiving the Freyna Core.

Once you have all of the above along with 400,000 Gold, speak with Anais in Albion and being researching Freyna. After 16 hours?? of waitin??g, Freyna will be yours.

All Freyna abilities

Freyna has the following abilities at her dispos??al:

• Passive: Contagion Links

  • Increases Toxic Skill Power by the number of nearby enemies inflicted with Poison from Freyna's skill.

• Skill 1: Toxic Trauma

  • Throws poison to attack target enemy with damage and inflict Room 0 Trauma to nearby enemies.

• Skill 2: Defense Mechanism

  • Significantly increases DEF. There is a chance of inflicting Room 0 Trauma to enemies upon attack.

• Skill 3: Decomposed Poison

  • Throws toxins to form a Toxic Swamp. Enemies entering the Toxic Swamp receive continuous damage and become inflicted with Poison and Venom-Soaked. Enemies inflicted with Venom-Soaked leave Toxic Footprints as they move, and enemies that touch Toxic Footprints also become inflicted with Poison.

• Skill 4: Venemous Baptism

  • Changes current Firearm to Venom Baptism. Enemies hit with Venom Baptism bullets are inflicted with Room 0 Trauma.

All of this makes Freyna excellent at dealing with endless waves of enemies, but not the most adept at dealing with bosses or elite enemies. If you're going into a wave defense mi?ssion of some k??ind, she could make a solid choice.

The post How to unlock Freyna in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

If you’re not a fan of the heavy nature of the Tamer machine gun in The First Descendant, the Eternal Willpower will be a lighter option that barely sacrifices DPS. Here, we’ll go over how to get it, the best rolls, and a solid build to get yo??u well into the en?dgame.

How to get the Eternal Willpower in The First Descendant

The Eternal Willpower will first be given to you as a possible mission reward when completing the Baggage Transport Base mission in the Agna Desert area. Specifically, once you get? to the Vermillion Waste area and your item level is in the early t??o mid-40s, you’ll be at its first drop location.

Luckily, the chance of obtaining the weapon is 50% upon mission completion. It’ll only take a few runs to get this to drop. Once you have obtained your first Eternal Willpower, it’ll then become a ?regular Rare drop from enemies and bosses when playing the game.

Y??ou can later target farm it at max level once you unlock Hard mode. It’ll appear in the same Baggage Transport Base mission as a reward�this time at level 100.

Best rolls for the Eternal Willpower

The following are the best rolls to get for the Eternal Willpower assault rifle??:

• Firearm ATK
• Fire, Chill, Electric, or Toxic ATK
• Firearm Critical Hit Rate
• Firearm Critical Hit Damage

This combination of abilities will greatly enhance the weapon’s overall DPS because it’ll flat-out give a better damage boost with an eleme??nt and base damage. Pair that with boosting its critical stats and you can tear ?through the endgame content with ease.

You can either farm for its rolls by farming multiple variants of the weapon or try your luck with the Weapon Readjustment mechanic at the workbench. 

To increase your chances of getting the right rolls, you will want to invest heavily in the Adjustment Control Axis material. They’re different from?? the Fine Adjustment variants and should be easier to cra?ft as you may be sitting on a lot of Superalloy.

Best build for the Eternal Willpower in The First Descendant

You should use The following mod set for your Eternal Willpower AR. It’ll focus?? a lot on its exceptional ??critical stats while boosting other decent strengths with the weapon.

It’ll also be assumed that you will invest in an Energy Activator, several Crystallization Catalysts, and upgraded mods.

• Rifling Reinforcement
• Better Insight
• Better Concentration
• Anti-Matter Round
• Insight Focus
• Chill/Electric/Fire/Toxic Enhancement (choose one)
• Reload Focus
• Focus Fire
• Concentrate Support Ammo
• Sweeping Squad

If you do not have the Sweeping Squad mod, you can replace it with Aiming Compensation or Fire Rate Concentration. That way, your gun can still?? be an all-rounder that’s good for bossing and mobbing. 

The post The First Descendant Eternal Willpower: How to get, be??st rolls, a?nd build appeared first on Destructoid.

Ultimate Weapons are some of the most exciting weapons available in The First Descendant. While blue and pur??ple weapons have their place, the added?? passives available on Ultimate Weapons help them fulfill a particular niche and provide some nice bonuses.

However, you'll notice upon getting an Ultimate Weapon that the damage on it is laughably small. There's a way to fix that. Here's how to level up Ultimate Weapons in The First Descendant.

How to increase the DPS value of Ultimate Weapons in The First Descendant

To level up your Ultimate Weapon and increase its DPS, land inside the main hub of Albion and head to the right. Pass by where you'd normally speak to Alpha and head downstairs to reach several vendors. Next to the vendor named Deslin, you'll find the Weapon Workbench. Alternatively, you can go to the spot listed on the map?? above to reach the Weapon Workbench.

Once there, interact with the Workbench and select the Weapon Level Transmission option. Once inside this menu, you'll have a few options. Mainly, we want to focus on our Ultimate Weapon. Click on it, then select any spare weapons you have that you don't care about keeping. Once selected, you'll delete these weapons but level up the Ultimate Weapon's DPS. I did this once or twice myself and got my Ultimate Weapon to a point ??where it had better DPS than anything else I was using. This can be done for any weapons below Ultimate rarity too, if you want.

Is it worth it to level up Ultimate Weapons?

Ultimate Weapons are, most of the time, well worth leveling up. A lot of Ultimate Weapons are just better versions of their blue or purple counterparts, though there are always a few bad apples in the pile. It'll merely depend on personal preference and whether the perk seems interesting to you. For me, I like the Thunder Cage SMG a lot since I play Bunny primarily and they synergi??ze well. Ideally, you find synergies like that??.

The post How to level up Ultimate?? Weapons in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

There's a lot that The First Descendant either doesn't e??xplain or doesn't explain well. It's both fortunate and unfortunate in that you get the thrill of discovering it yourself (if that's your jam), or missing out because you're afraid to squander a resource without full knowledge of what it does. Much like Descendants, weapons have levels and can be upgraded through a prestige system.

What is the max weapon level in The First Descendant?

Weapons, much like the Descendants who wield them, can be leveled up to 40. This Proficiency Level can be viewed by hovering over a weapon in your inventory. Once a weapon has hit level 40, it can be enhanced by havin??g the level reset during the Assign Module Socket Type process.

• Open your inventory and select the weapon you wish to prestige.
• Open the "Module Settings" menu.
• Select "Module Additional Settings."
• Select "Assign Module Socket Type."
• Choose one of the five Module Socket Types and which slot you want it to occupy.

Mirroring the prestige process for Descendants, assigning a Module Socket Type halves the co?st of the Mod inserted in that slot. This allows for more expensive Mods to be inserted without sacrificing overall quantity. For example, a maxed-out Rifling Reinforcement?? Mod would cost eight instead of 16.

Aside from having a level 40 weapon, the process requires a Crystallization Cata??lyst. This item can be crafted after farming its various components [(8) Murky Energy Residue, (22) Macromolecule Biogel, (8) Mixed Energy Residue, (18) Advanced Neural Circuit, (1) Crystallization Catalyst Blueprint]. Those who don't want to farm have the option of purchasing the catalyst for 260 Caliber.

As for leveling up the weapons, each of the three equipped weapons receives passive experience regardless of whichever one is actively being used. That being said, the one actively being used will receive the most experience. To level a weapon up quickly, I recommend running Special Operations. If your Descendant is level 1-20ish, run Defend Albion Resource in Kingston. For 20?+, Block Kuiper Mining in Sterile Land is quick and easy.

The post The?? First Descendant: Max weapon level and how?? to prestige appeared first on Destructoid.

Movement in The First Descendant is a little more robust than one would think. There are Descendant-specific traversal powers, rolls, and even a double jump. However, the one with the most potential is the grappling hook. On its own, it's fun but limited. Fortunately, this looter shoote??r is all about customization, and things change once you get the Mid-Air Maneuvering Mod.

Time to give the Vulgus the Levi Ackerman Special

While it is possible to craft the Mid-Air Maneuvering Mod, crafting results are a bit random. Thankfully, the Mod can be farmed by running The Haven dungeon in Haigos on Hard Mode. With Nexo?n listening to fans and adding matchmaking to Hard Mode activities, it's a breeze finding a group and plowing through this instance.

There are numerous benefits that make obtaining the Mid-Air Maneuvering Mod worthwhile. The first and greatest is th??at you no longer need to target a grapple point. Instead, you can latch onto anything, including the air itself! Combined with the longer range, combat and travers?al become a lot more fluid and make it easier to adapt to whatever situation you find yourself in.

While it has a not-insignificant Charge Time at the start, the Mod can be enhanced to be much more tolerable. As ??an added bonus, a fully en??hanced Mod will increase your overall maximum Module capacity by 10. So, not only do you become more nimble, but you can stack more mods on your Descendant, making them more able to tackle content like Hard Mode instances and Colossi.

Since acquiring the Mid-Air Maneuvering Mod, it's never left my Mod slots. With The First Descendant punishing Descendants that aren't Ajax for getting too close, I don't see a benefit for using other Mods in that slot, as the bulk of them change your melee strike. Ul??timately, it's up to you and your play style, but for my money, this Mod can't be beaten.

The post How to get the Mid-Air Maneuvering Grappling Hook in The First Descend?ant appeared first on Destructoid.

There is no shortage of items, components, and gear in The First Descendant. As you work through the campaign, you'll f??ind yourself inundated with a bevy of weapon types, Reactors, and External Components. Weapons can eventually be upgraded, but can the same be said about the Rea??ctors and External Components, particularly the Ultimate gold ones?

Surely, my hoarding will pay off once I reach the end game

There are three rarities when it comes to gear in The First Descendant: Standard (blue), Rare (purple), and Ultimate (rare). The gold rarities provide a considerable upgrade over its counterparts, and the Reactors and External Components will drop in the wild and don't require crafting. Another difference between the weapons and other gear is that Reactors and External Components cannot have their level increased??.

As such, keeping any that aren't beneficial to you doesn't make a lot of sense. Dismantle any Reactors and External Components, regardless of quality, that are no longer of use. Despite the game warning you no??t to do this, they'll break down into useful crafting components.

While there isn't any way to increase the level of Reactors and External Components, you can upgrade Reactors twice in Albion. Ultimate Reactors can be upgraded twice for (15) Precise Ion Accelerators and provide about 700 increased Skill Power. While Rares can be upgraded, the drop rate for Ultimates isn't so poor that you should spend precious resources on them. So, hold out for the Ultimate Reactors that work best for your Descendant and their build, and don't fret about dismantling tho?se that have outlived their usef??ulness.

The post What to do with gold Reactors?? and External Components in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Sharen has become one of the top Descendants in The First Descendant because of her invisibility bui?ld. If you want to utilize this for farming reasons or just to main her, here’s what yo??u need to know.

Best Sharen mod build in The First Descendant

The following will first be a mod setup that you should put for Sharen. It will require multiple Crystallization Catalysts and an Energy Activator so you c?an maximize m??????????????????????????od upgrades and space to put them into your build.

• Skill Module: Overcharged Edge
• Sub Module: Preference
• Increased HP
• Increased DEF
• Increased Shield
• Spear and Shield
• Time Distribution
• Focus on Fusion
• Focus on Electric
• Electric Specialist
• MP Collector
• Battle of Stamina

While most builds may utilize her Battlesuit Melting Rounds mod, this will use Overcharged Edge instead. This will be a gen??eral build emphasizing her Active Camouflage ability. 

With Overcharged Edge, it’ll consume your shields instead of MP, allowing you to use your other ab??ilities without her invisibility taking up all the energy. That way, you can use her Active Camouflage to cheese side objectives like the Strategic Outposts that spawn every few minutes.

You can trivialize these missions by popping your invisibility, hacking the power units, and increasing your chances of getting the Successful Infiltration rewards. Playin?g in public groups will make your teammates love you more.

While Sharen can be played as a stealth farming Descendant, her other abilities are really ??st??rong in crowd controlling and even taking out mobs. 

Her bossing and Elite killing abilities are also very strong thanks to the Ambush damage increase upon exiting. You may want to use a sniper or shotgun to really maximize damage as it’ll only give you the boo??st on the first attack out of invisibility. 

Best loadout for Sharen in The First Descendant

With the mod setup done, now it’s time for your equipment. This will include your Reactor, External Components, and w??eapons.

So first, with the Reactor. The best Reactor for Sharen will be the Tingling Mixture Reactor. It’ll boost power to her Electric and Fusion skills. While only two of h??er abilities actually do damage, you’re going? to want to focus more on the bottom two stats. Look for the following:

• Skill Cooldown
• Skill Cost

If you can also get this Reactor with a corresponding Ultimate Weapon that you are wielding, pr?eferably the Thunder Cage, it’ll become even more potent. This will allow you to use your abilities? a bit more often whi?le being economical regarding energy and even your shields. 

As for External Components, get the whole Supernova or Bravery set. Starting with Supernova, the whole set will give you more power to your electric skills, fusion skills, and a special Thunderbolt attack that will deal massive damage to enemies inflicted with Ele??ctrocution. This is more for mobbing and general ability use.

The Bravery set is going to be more of a defensive set to use. It’ll increase your HP recovery and increase your shields with two pieces. With the full set, you’re going to have higher skill duration and random skills being cooled down faster if y?ou kill stunned enemies. 

Weapon choices will depend on what your playstyle is. However, by using an Ultimate Rarity Reactor, you do need a weapon that fits the slot to get the maximum power b??enefit from it. 

The post Th??e First Descendant: Best Sharen build and loadout appeared first on Destructoid.

As you progress through The First Descendant, you'll power level a lot of gear in the quest to become as strong as possible. Descendant levels are the easiest to understand since each level upgrades a ton of stats and levels up one of that Descendant's abilities. However, one type of level-up is seemingly shrouded in secrecy, as it consistently appears in the chat window. Here's what Weapon Proficiency is in The First Descendant.

What are Weapon Proficiency levels in The First Descendant?

Weapon Proficiency is the overall experience you've gained with that weapon. You gain experience simply by using it to kill enemies and should get levels quite quickly. These levels start at zero if you've never used the weapon before, and climb to 40 before stopping. From there, you need to prestige the weapon with a Crystallization Ca?talyst to start leveling it again.

What does Weapon Proficiency do?

Weapon Proficiency is useful in two key areas. The first is Mastery, which is granted for every Weapon Proficiency level for the first 40 levels of that weapon. From there, you're safe to delete the weapon if you don't like it. Using it longer won't help you unless it's a weapon you want to keep usi??ng. This Mastery will help you toward the next Maste??ry rank, which can grant bonuses such as storage space, Descendant/Weapon Module Capacity, and Consumable Inventory slots. Ideally, you want to get as much Mastery as quickly as possible.

The more interesting of the two uses, however, is for Module Capacity. Each level with the weapon increases the Module Capacity, allowing you to install more and better Modules to increase the weapon's power. Reaching level 40 with the weapon also allows you to install a Crystallization Catalyst. This resets the weapon to level one, but makes a chosen slot lower the cost of any Module put into it. If you've played Warframe before, this is quite similar to Forma.

How to farm Weapon Proficiency

While it's suggested that you farm Weapon Proficiency while doing whatever else you need to do in The First Descendant, a great place to farm strictly that is in any Special Operation across any region. These typically put you up against large and consistent waves of enemies, allowing you to easily rack up a ton of Weapon and Descendant XP. Special Operations for each region are unlocked upon completing that region's main missions.

The post What is Weapon Proficiency in The First Descenda?nt? appeared first on Destructoid.

The First Descendant is like many looter shooters in that there are plenty of resources to acquire and farm up. It's the nature of the grind, getting way more than you know what to do with to spend on all sorts of weapons, gear, characters, and upgrades. One such resource is from a specific source but it can be tough to find. Here's how to get Superfluid in The First Descendant.

Where to farm Superfluid in The First Descendant

Superfluid is found exclusively in the Sterile Land region of the game, unlocked after completing all missions within Kingston. Like any region, you'll find all sorts of Resource and Munitions Boxes scattered about. Destroy these, and you'll have?? a chance to receive some Superfluid. In my time trying to farm it, I was able to get around 20-30 Superfluid per box that drop?ped some. With every five or so boxes dropping some, it was easy to quickly rack up a few hundred.

As for farming Superfluid, your best bet will be to land in the Repository fast travel point, head up onto the rocks on the left to open the Munitions boxes, then head to the fenced-off area on the right to open the Resource boxes. From there, fast travel to any other area in the Sterile Land then fast travel back. Repeat this process to? open five crates each time, getting roughly one crate of 20-30 Superfluid per run.

What is Superfluid used for?

Superfluid is used in a variety of blueprints across The First Descendant. These range in needing quantities of 60 up to 500 or so depending on the blueprint. The full list of blueprints that require Superfluid, ordered by their cost, can be fo??und below:

• Nazeistra's Devotion Nano Tube - 62 Superfluid
• Blue Beetle Polymer Syncytium - 143 Superfluid
• Divine Punishment Polymer Syncytium - 143 Superfluid
• King’s Guard Lance Nano Tube - 143 Superfluid
• Restored Relic Nano Tube - 143 Superfluid
• Smithereens Polymer Syncytium - 143 Superfluid
• The Final Masterpiece Nano Tube - 143 Superfluid
• Wave of Light Synthetic Fiber - 143 Superfluid
• Valby Enhanced Cells - 442 Superfluid
• Lepic Stabilizer - 571 Superfluid
• Viessa Spiral Catalyst - 571 Superfluid
• Ultimate Bunny Stabilizer - 1,285 Superfluid
• Ultimate Viessa Spiral Catalyst - 1,285 Superfluid

If you want to craft one of everything above, you'll need 5,217 Superfluid. This sounds like a huge task, but if you only farm Superfluid once you need it, it isn't all that bad. That's especially true if you don't go for Ultimate Bunny or Ultimate Viessa, who both account for half of all Sup?erfluid needed to make everything.

The post How to get Superfluid in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

The Vesgitial Organ is a rocket launcher in The First Descendant that has matched the likes of other popular weapons like the Tamer. It’ll work exceptionally? well for bossing and mobbing, though you will go through its ammo ??rather quickly.

How to get the Vestigial Organ in The First Descendant

To get the Vestigial Organ in The First Descendant, you have to play the Miragestone: Vulgus Strategic Outpos??t Zone Recon Mission in the Agna Desert region. It has a 50% chance to be given to you upon completing the mission. 

This mission isn’t always readily available, so make sure the mission timer hasn’t started yet. Be there withi??n five minutes before the event starts.&n?bsp;

Best Vesgitial Organ farm

The best way to farm the Vestigial Organ is to repeat this mission or,?? after completing it, kill mobs of enemies in hopes that it’ll drop. Luckily, you can visit this mission once you get to Hard mode and it’ll be a higher level than 50. 

You can hold onto the?? weapon until you can start getting level 100 gear. It’ll be easier that way so you can use Weapon Level Transmission to not have to farm for a new one. Though, with steep resource costs, it’s better to just farm a fresh one once you’re at that level.

Best rolls for the Vesgitial Organ in The First Descendant

The following are the best rolls to have for your Vestigial Organ. You can either find one with these rolls or use the Weapon Readjustment feature at t??he Workbench. 

• Explosive ATK
• Elemental ATK
• Weapon Change Speed
• Attribute Status Effect Trigger Rate

The Vestigial Organ does not have a good critical hit rate or da??mage, so it’s pointless to roll for that or apply mods that increase it. With raw damage and increased elemental stats, this launcher will then be good to be an all-rounder weapon.&nb??sp;

The post How to get and fa?rm the Vestigial O?rgan in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

As you progress through The First Descendant you'll unlock new features, systems, and types of content to play through. One such feature is the Encrypted Storage Boxes and Encrypted Vaults. Opening them will grant you with items and resources that can be used to unlock new Descendants and more. Here is how to find The First Descendant Encrypted Storage Boxes and Encrypted Vaults.

Best Encrypted Storage Boxes farm in The First Descendant

While you can technically farm Encrypted Storage Boxes in any zone, the best spot to farm them is in the Moonlight Lake area of Vespers. Right in ?the middle of the Moonlight Lake you will see a spot called the Temporary?? Zone, Head to this middle area and pull out your scanner.

There are actually several spawn points in this middle area of Moonlight Lake that can spawn an Encrypted Storage Box, so just start scanning as you run up and down the small path here, as the range of your scanner is l?ong enough to hit any that can spawn. In my experience, an Encrypted Storage Box spawns here almost every run.

Once you've scanned and unlocked the Encrypted Storage Box, simply load to the nearby Lost Supply Depot location, and then preload back into the Temporary Zone in Moonlight Lake and rinse and repea?t.

If this is your first time accessing an Encrypted Storage Box or Vault, it's not actually a cube-like structure or anythinga but rather looks like an android sarcophagus-type object as seen in the screenshot above. In order to open it, you will need the proper ?Analyzer to do so. Each Analyzer used to unlock Encrypted Storage Boxes and Vaults drop off nearby enemies. Here's the analyzers you need for each encrypted storage:

The post How to find The First Descendant Encrypted Stora??ge Boxes and Vaults appeared first on Destructoid.

When completing regions in The First Descendant, you'll unlock more and more missions and side objectives before unlocking the next region and continuing the story. This is a fairly standard mission structure for this sort of game, but what might immediately throw you off is a new mission appearing later on. Here's what Special Operations are in The First Descendant.

How to complete a Special Operation in The First Descendant?

Special Operations in The First Descendant are a mission type that's added to your map upon completing all main missions in that region. These are a special type of multiplayer mission where you must deal with waves of enemies, each wave lasting about two minutes. You can complete up to 21 waves, but will periodically receive rewards and be able to abort the mission with the loot you've collected so far. The first Special Operation, found in Kingston, has you defend an objective against two waves of enemies to the left and right and a few ene??mies ??that occasionally spawn straight ahead.

The rewards from these Special Operations are typically quite good on their own, including Shape Stabilizers and Anomalous Materials. You can see the rewards for each Special Opera?tion on the queue screen upon selecting it. For example, the Special Operation in Kingston offers Anomalous Materials 004 and 005, Shape Stabilizer Form 1, and 19,000 Gold as potential rewards.

Are Special Operations worth running?

If your goal is just to get Anomalous Materials and Shape Stabilizers, there are better things you could do. Unless it's for specific resources, these only give about two rewards every half hour, which isn't a great rate of return. However, Special Operations are one of the best ways to level your Descendant and weapons. I got a good handful of level??s off my first run for both Bunny and the Thunder Cage, meaning I can slap one or two more Modules on each without worrying about capacity limits.

The post What are Special Ope?rations in?? The First Descendant? appeared first on Destructoid.

While it's not worth doing for random weapons in The First Descendant, creating builds for some of your best weapons can elevate them from great to excellent. Most Modules are only stat boosts, but those stat boosts can make or break these weapons. One such weapon you get early is quite powerful on its own, but only gets much better with the right Modules. Here's the best build for the Thunder Cage SMG in The First Descendant.

The best Modules for the Thunder Cage SMG in The First Descendant

The Thunder Cage's greatest strengths are in both its rate of fire and attack speed, dishing out endless bullets quickly. However, that means you're constantly contending with reloads and the weapon not always being up to snuff in raw DPS. Rather than upping the damage however, we want to ensure that those clips go out quickly while reloa?ds are far easier to deal with. The following nine Modules should do just that:

• Reload Insight
• Recycling Genius
• Expand Weapon Charge
• Fire Rate UP
• Maximize Weight Balance
• Vibration Absorption
• Hawk-Eye
• Weak Point Insight
• Better Insight

The first five mods are designed with the core purpose in mind. We're adding in fire rate, rounds per magazine, and reload speed so you're dumping a clip into whatever enemy you see. The other four mods lift the weapon i?n other ways, with Vibration Absorption and Hawk-Eye? providing some utility through recoil and accuracy. Weak Point Insight and Better Insight giving weak point damage and critical hit chance respectively.

Who is the best Descendant to pair the Thunder Cage with?

With the right build, Bunny is the best character by far to run the Thunder Cage with. If you're building out Bunny properly, you're adding ??in electricity damage somewhere since all of her builds are electricity-based. This can help the Thunder Cage's unique passive of making enemies explode into electric bursts. It's a match ma?de in heaven.

The post Best Thunder Cage build in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

Metal Accelerants are an important resource to gather in The First Descendant if you’re looking to get characters like Gley, Lepic, Valby, and Kyle. They’re also used in craft?ing unique weapons, so you’re going to want to get a lot of this.

How to get Metal Accelerants in The First Descendant

To get Metal Accelerants in The First Descendant, you will have to farm the Sterile Land area of the game. P??articularly, you have to farm the resource boxes and munition caches that you see scattered throughout the area.

The difficulty does not matter? here. Whether you’re on the norm?al playthrough or on Hard, these items will still come from the boxes. 

How to farm Metal Accelerants in The First Descendant

To add to how you can get Metal Accelerants, the best way to farm them is to use Bunny. Her first ability, Speed of Light, allows you to move extra fast across terrain. Using that to get through as many boxes as you can will greatly decrease the time needed to farm up the ma?terials you need.

Additionally, her Lightning Emission ability is one of the best at clearing up mobs of enemies if anything gets in your way. It’ll also help des??troy caches as you approach them. However, you do manually need to open up munition caches as you approach them. 

You may also need to farm some Normal and Battlefield missions to get into areas that ar?e accessed by playing through them. 

Once you have made a round through an area in the Sterile Land, just fast-travel to an Outpost or a Temporary Safe Zone so you can either respawn the boxes or go into an entirely different location. Keep rinsing and repeating this until you feel ??like you h?ave gathered enough Metal Accelerants to craft the parts you need.

The post How to get ?and farm Metal Accelerants in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.

The First Descendant has a lot of mechanics and systems to remember, and sometimes, it’s hard to follow what exactly you’re doing�one of them being the prestige system. For those a little confused, or just looking to gain better understanding, here's how Prestige works in The First Descendant.

What are the Prestige requirements in The First Descendant?

To Prestige in The First Descendant, you will need a Crystallization Catalyst. If you have ever played Warf??rame?, it’s the equivalent of installing a Forma onto y?our weapon or frame. 

Simply reach max level (40) on your Descendant or weapon, then apply one of these. Upon using a ??Crystallization Catalyst, your item will reset back to level 0, but you will also be able to assign an additional socket type.

This will be importa??nt for endgame building?? as upgraded modules cost more capacity. Since they cost more, you’ll want to add sockets that correspond with the more expensive mods, like the Rifling Reinforcements mods for your weapons or Increased DEF for your Descendants.

If you want to add another socket o?nto your items, you have to re-??level them to 40.

What is the point of Prestige in The First Descendant?

As mentioned earlier, prestiging your items in The First Descendant will allow you to further customize your gear by adding matching socket symbols. ??When you do, you can cut the cost o??f an expensive mod by half when placing them with the corresponding socket.

By then, you should have heavily invested in base damage mods for your weapons and survival mods for your D?escendants. Capacity will slowly go up with Mastery Rank, but it won’t be enough for upgraded mods. 

Does Prestige count toward Mastery Rank?

Prestige does not count toward your Mastery Rank in The First Descendant. Upon reachin??g level 40 for?? the first time on a Descendant or weapon, you won’t gain any more XP towards that. 

The only reason you would prestige your stuff is to get them ready for har??der con?tent in the game. 

The post How to prestige in The First Descendant appeared first on Destructoid.